Novel Activities, Daily 5 Update, & Anchor Chart Thursdays!

Well... my goodness!  It has been far too long since I've had the opportunity to blog.  It seems like a lifetime ago!  I've been so busy in the classroom, and things are just now starting to die down... just in time for parent conferences :)  Has anyone else's year been like this?  I have so much to share and so little time.  I feel like we are finally getting into our routine... somewhat!

We have been doing Daily 5 since our very first week of school.  It's been going great.  I've been having some great individual conferences with my students.  I feel like the one-on-one time is what's going to help my students get to where they need to be.  Unfortunately, I don't get to meet with everyone every day, and sometimes not even every week.  I'm trying to get into small groups, but I'm having a difficult time finding time for them.  So, I was wondering... how many of you just do individual conferences, how many of you do small group, and how many of you are lucky enough to have time for both??  I have thought about having a specific day of the week set aside for small group and conferences.  I would love hear what you all find time to do in the comments.

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As many of you may know already, I spent the last four years teaching 4th grade math.  I have taught 5th grade reading/ELA before, so I was super excited to find out that I would be teaching it again this year.

We just finished reading Hatchet as a read aloud which is an all-time favorite of 5th grade students.  I am always reading something to my students!  Here are a few activities we did after we finished the book!

A major theme of the book is how Brian changed.  He changed from the old Brian to the new Brian.  One of the 5th grade CC standards is to compare two or more characters.  We compared the old Brian and the new Brian.  I was impressed with all the ideas the students came up with!

We then talked about all the characters and settings.  They came up with some really great ideas that showed me they could 'think outside the box.'  I was so proud of them :)  I love how they included the personified fire... probably my all-time favorite!

We then brainstormed some themes of Hatchet.

Another one of our CC standards is to discuss how characters in a story respond to challenges.  So, we completed this anchor chart together.

The students were able to choose a scene and illustrate it.

The students then completed their final projects.  You can find more pictures of these here on my class website.

These activities can be done with just about any novel.  Hopefully you can use some of them in your own classroom.

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Lastly, last year I started Anchor Chart Thursdays.  I obviously {LOVE} using anchor charts in my classroom, but when I started this weekly post last year, I didn't have a whole lot available in my room since it was towards the end of the school year.  When we get ready for testing in April, we have to take everything down!  I want to start it back up again because ...

#1- I want a way to keep all my anchor charts digital so I can go back to them for years to come.

#2- Anchor charts are such a great way to teach and record students' thinking.

#3- I just want to share them with you!

So... starting this Thursday {even though I just shared... like 4 with you}, the Anchor Chart Thursday post will be back.  It will basically be a short post with an anchor chart I have used this year in my classroom with a short description of how I use it. That easy!

See you then,